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If you’re still not convinced that Hyundai–Kia is a force to be reckoned with, take a look at the latest sales numbers. Hyundai-Kia has passed Ford as the fourth-largest automaker in the world by outselling the Blue Oval gang in the first half of 2009.

At the end of 2008, Hyundai-Kia was trailing Ford by roughly 1 million annual sales. As of the halfway point in 2009, though, Hyundai-Kia outsold Ford by 8,000 units with 2.153 million sales globally to Ford’s 2.145 million. Of the top 10 automakers by sales volume, Ford has had the worst year so far, seeing worldwide sales drop by 30.6%.

While the folks at Hyundai-Kia are no doubt happy with their latest upset, they now find themselves in a similar predicament. As of the midway point, Hyundai-Kia trailed third-place automaker Volkswagen by nearly 1 million sales. While conquering Ford was made easier by Ford’s own sales drop, Volkswagen won’t be such an easy target, as its sales are only down 5.1% this year.

Up at the top of the leader board, it’s a similar story. Toyota made history earlier this year by unseating GM as the world’s largest automaker, but its reign may be cut short. GM trailed Toyota by only 12,000 sales at the halfway mark and despite its bankruptcy issues has posted a smaller sales decline over 2008. Bolstered by its huge success in China, GM’s worldwide sales were only down 21.8% compared to Toyota’s 26% decline. Toyota isn’t likely to take this lying down, though. The company’s new president has already made a commitment to more passionate vehicles that he hopes will rekindle sales. Will it make a difference come December? We’ll just have to wait and see.